Battlefield2 - How fast on this spec?

[Trancer]

ok, what do you reckon bout this...

My current spec is in my sig, and i reckon i get about av 30fps @ 1024 x 768 on medium settings in Battlefield 2.

Now, im thinking of upgrading to:

Western Digital 250GB 7200RPM SATA2/300 16MB
AMD Athlon 64 3700 San Diego
ASRock (939DUAL-SATA2) ALi 1695

Therefore keeping the current 1GB and ATI 9700, which I cant afford to upgrade at this moment.

The question is, how well do you think the above would run BF2? Do you think it would do High settings, im also hoping for resolution of 1280 x 1024.

Opinions?

Edit: Updated sig to confirm to new size rules

 

[Larok]

bit of a problem with your sig there

I would guess that the video card would make the most difference with bf2 along with system ram. 6800GS equivalent and above and 1gb prefer 2gb system ram.

 

[Dureth]

Well I can't see your current spec so I've no idea but I'm guessing that without upgrading the graphics card your going to see a minimal increase is any. As your going from an AGP card I'll assume its a socket A XP processor.

You state you can't afford to upgrade the cpu/mobo/gpu, however by getting an A64 3000 instead of the 3700 we might be able to squeeze a new graphics card in there too. The 3000 should overclock quite well and even at stock will be enough to drive the mid range type stuff we will be looking at.

Hows this:

CP-130-AM AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - OEM (CP-130-AM)
£89.95 £89.95
HS-028-AK Akasa AK-862 Low Noise CPU Cooler (Socket 754 & 939) (HS-028-AK)
£7.50 £7.50
MB-040-GI Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-040-GI)
£54.95 £54.95
GX-117-SP Sapphire X1600 Pro 256MB DDR2 AVIVO TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-117-SP)
£77.95 £77.95
Subtotal £230.35
VAT £40.32
Total £270.67

As I don't know your budget I'm not sure if the above is affordable but it should give you a better boost than your plans to keep the 9700.

 

[Larok]

looks like a good plan

 

[Trancer]

Sorry guys, can you see my sig now? Its this:

AMD Barton 2500+ @ 2.2Ghz, CoolMaster Aero 7 Lite, Abit NFS-7 v2, 1GB PC32000 RAM, Radeon 9700

One question, what does the MB-040-GI Gigabyte K8N SLi nForce4 SLi motherboard have going for it that the ASrock doesnt? (apart form SLI)

 

[ste_bla]

If you dont need the Hard drive then you could get with your money ;

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego Retail £137.95
Gigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX PCI-Express Motherboard £41.95
HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X550 256MB DDR TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £44.95

Subtotal £224.85
VAT £39.35
Total £264.20

The difference between those motherboards isnt just the SLI, your one would use your old gfx (apg card) which is now on its dying legs and wont be made soon so if you going to change your motherboard then even if your buying a cheap gfx (which you can upgrade later) you wont have to change motherboards for a few years. Also the SLI thing means if you wanted you can add a second card and increase performance (card has to be same as first one though) but then SLI doesnt work on ATI cards so thats pointless you would need a Crossfire motherboard (ATI version of SLI) if you went with the surgestion of the x1600

 

[Larok]

I'm not sure although I have an image in my mind that the gigabyte is a more stable board and better for overclocking as its dedicated to pci express.

Also I'v used the gigabyte and it works fine and I'v only heard of the ASrock

Is there a cost advantage?

OCUk sell the gigabyte!

 

[4T5]

I would buy a decent GFX card and a 2Gig of Geil pack.
Should get mid 5k on 3D Mark 05 and run BF2 very smoothly all on Medium - High at the res you want.
Any above suggestions combined with 1Gig of ram and your GFX card will be pants in my opinion.

My suggestion is an X800PE and 2Gig of Geil. Properly set up you will get over 6k on 05.

 

[ste_bla]

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 90nm £123.95
MGigabyte K8NMF-9 nForce4 Micro ATX £41.95
GX-053-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 GTO 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI £69.95

Subtotal £235.85
VAT £41.28
Total £277.13

I thought this might be slightly better as bother cpu and gfx would get a good performance boost

 

[Trancer]

Thanks for the help guys...

Whats the diff between a Venice and San Diego CPU?

 

[BigDom]

Ok I know this raises the price slightly but it has two benefits over the other specs.
1)It's a solid motherboard
2)Crossfire allows you to crossfire in the future.

Keep the rest of your bits and this will work very nicely in BF2.

MB-129-AS Asus A8R-MVP Crossfire (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-129-AS)
£69.95 £69.95
GX-053-PC PowerColor ATI Radeon X800 GTO 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-053-PC)
£69.95 £69.95
CP-118-AM AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 90nm (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3200BPBOX) (CP-118-AM)
£104.95 £104.95
Subtotal £244.85
Shipping (City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)) £8.25
VAT £44.30
Total £297.40

 

[trojan698]

Whats the diff between a Venice and San Diego CPU?

Venice = 512k cache
SD = 1mb cache

The larger cache of the SD supposedly equates to around a 200 mhz speed difference.